All eyes on Amit Shah as Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to be tabled in Rajya Sabha today
Union Home minister Amit Shah will table the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, where the halfway mark is currently 121 as five seats are vacant.
FollowNew Delhi: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh entered India on and before December 31, 2014, will be tabled in the Upper House at 2 pm today by Union home minister Amit Shah.
The Bill which was met with mixed reactions was discussed at length in the Lok Sabha with home minister Amit Shah addressing all concerns.
However, ahead of the Bill being tabled in Rajya Sabha today (December 11), Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said that staging a walk out of the House would be the easiest way to support the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in the country.
"Today Rajya Sabha is discussing CAB. It would be interesting to see how parties who claim to oppose the BJP/RSS Ideology vote. Walk Out would be the easiest way to support Modi Shah," tweeted Singh, a Rajya Sabha lawmaker, on Wednesday.
The Congress leader urged Bihar chief minister and JDU president Nitish Kumar and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) to reconsider their support to the Bill, which was passed by Lok Sabha earlier this week.
"Nitish Ji, Ram Vilas Ji if you believe in the principles of Ram Manohar Lohia Ji then please think. The time has come," Singh tweeted in Hindi.
After heated discussions spanning seven hours, the Bill was passed by with a majority of 311 votes against 80 in the Lower House where 391 members were present and voted on Monday (December 9).Â
